ABINGTON – The battle over Common Core, the educational standards reforms that are being implemented across the country, has reached the region after opponents of the reforms held a presentation in Abington last week.

In essence, Common Core is a set of English and math standards that were developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers in 2009 to ensure that students are college and career ready by the time they graduate high school.

“The states basically said it’s ridiculous that everyone is doing their own standards,” said Linda Noonan, the executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for education.

However, Common Core has developed detractors since its creation.

Last week, a group of speakers opposed to Common Core’s implementation in Massachusetts gathered in front of about 20 residents at the Abington Senior Center to voice their concerns over the reforms.

The scene was similar to a number of one-sided information sessions that have taken place across the Commonwealth in recent months challenging Common Core.

During the event, Jamie Gass, the Director of the Center for School Reform at the Pioneer Institute, a non-partisan, Massachusetts thinktank, suggested that the implementation of Common Core standards would be a step backwards for Massachusetts, which has been a leader in the United States when it comes to education since the passage of the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act.

The education reform act “really has taken the state from a middle of the pack performer on the SAT in 1993 to really historic results,” Gass said.

Sandra Stotsky, a member of the Common Core Validation Committee, which reviewed the Common Core standards, also spoke at the meeting, where she explained why she refused to sign off on the new standards.

During her presentation, Stotsky, a former senior associate commissioner in the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.said, “the charge to the committee was to ensure that these standards, which were to be our national standards, were internationally benchmarked, were research-based and were rigorous.”

However, she described the new English and math standards as flawed and failing to meet the criteria the committee had set up for itself.

Dave McGeney, a member of the School Committee in Peabody, was also on hand to explain how he and his peers voted to opt their school system out of the PARCC testing with the support of their superintendent and the city’s 10 school principals.

“For School Committee people not to do their homework, at least understand what we are getting ourselves into, that’s rather unforgivable in my opinion,” said McGeney.

Although the discussion stoked residents concerns during the question and answer period at the end of the event, Noonan said the arguments presented to residents during these meetings are distorted.

Page 2 of 2 - “A lot of their (Common Core opponents) objections are just not based in fact,” Noonan said.

Noonan argues that the new standards will actually better prepare students for life beyond high school.

“It has really aligned with higher education and the expectations that students have to face in the real world,” Noonan said. “Employers support the Common Core because they believe students should be taught to a level of readiness and not just to a basic skill level.”